The Missiles Are Coming

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Paper of the Socialist Organiser Alliance No.151 (editor of the Youth CND itor of the Youth CND paper 'Protest', writing in a personal capacity)

A MILITARY air zone has been declared over Greenham Common for three months: press rumours circulate that ships bearing missiles and warheads are already bound for Europe. Thatcher pledges that by the end of the year US Cruise missiles will be sited in Britain.

They are not welcome. Throughout Europe — in Britain, Germany and ten other countries - there will be massive demonstrations this weekend as men and women of all ages show their opposition to this escalation of the arms race. Firstly, with the missiles still not yet installed, there must What should they do next? 5222 be a stronger fight for trade union action to block supplies and construction work on their bases. Trade unions have already effectively put a boycott on the dumping at sea of nuclear waste. The British TGWU is on paper committed to support such boycott action against Cruise: we must fight for it to put these words into practice.

Secondly, local-level campaigning by CND and the labour movement must continue to raise the issue and widen support for the anti-war struggle - pointing to the implications for council and health workers of new Tory 'Civil Defence' plans, and building pickets, demonstrations, boycotts and strike action against every aspect of the war drive.

Thirdly, efforts must be made to link this issue to the other facets of the struggle against this brutal Tory government JOHN HARRIS which is closing hospitals, axing services, smashing up nationalised industries, exploiting unemployed youth and planning further cuts in benefits.

And, last but not least, the fight within the labour movement itself must be sharpened up.

Documents published in last Sunday's Observer underline the complicity of the last Labour government in the decisions to manufacture and deploy Cruise in Europe. If Kinnock/ Hattersley get their way, the next Labour government will have the same attitude towards nuclear weapons. Kinnock narrowly failed at the Brighton conference to discard the policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament the only principled policy for scrapping the Bomb.

In those handiul of unions not yet committed to unilateral- nilateralism, and throughout the workers' movement as a whole, the hole, the struggle must be to defend this policy and for a leadership adership prepared to fight for it rather than fudging or abandoning it. ning it.

FOUR PAGES of news, analysis an comment on the fight to scrap th Bomb, PLUS International News, an the latest reports on the Post Offic Engineering Union SETUPC privatisation (Back page).

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EDITORIA Socialist Organiser no.151 October 20 1983 Page

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Tories October 201983 25p 25p Claimants and strikers 10p

INS STOP THEM!